Trade-offs in non-native plant herbivore defences enhance performance |
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| Authors: | Xiao Sun Yumei Sun Xueyao Cao Xincong Zhai Ragan M Callaway Jinlong Wan S Luke Flory Wei Huang Jianqing Ding |
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| Institution: | 1. State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Adaptation and Improvement, School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng, China;2. Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana, USA;3. Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China;4. Agronomy Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA |
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| Abstract: | Non-native plants are typically released from specialist enemies but continue to be attacked by generalists, albeit at lower intensities. This reduced herbivory may lead to less investment in constitutive defences and greater investment in induced defences, potentially reducing defence costs. We compared herbivory on 27 non-native and 59 native species in the field and conducted bioassays and chemical analyses on 12 pairs of non-native and native congeners. Non-natives suffered less damage and had weaker constitutive defences, but stronger induced defences than natives. For non-natives, the strength of constitutive defences was correlated with the intensity of herbivory experienced, whereas induced defences showed the reverse. Investment in induced defences correlated positively with growth, suggesting a novel mechanism for the evolution of increased competitive ability. To our knowledge, these are the first linkages reported among trade-offs in plant defences related to the intensity of herbivory, allocation to constitutive versus induced defences, and growth. |
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| Keywords: | constitutive defence growth herbivore pressure induced defence non-native plant invasion |
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